Does Urbanization Improve Industrial Water Consumption Efficiency?

Abstract

Although some studies have focused on the logical connection between industrial water consumption in the industrial economic development (IED) and industrial wastewater treatment (IWT) stages, the master–slave game relationship between these stages has not been considered. This study selected panel data from 30 provinces in China from 2011 to 2015, divided these provinces into IED- and IWT-dominated regions, and developed a two-stage data envelopment analysis (DEA) model based on the master–slave game relationship between the IED and IWT stages. In addition, a regression model based on the Simar–Wilson approach was constructed to reveal the effects of urbanization on industrial water consumption efficiency. The results show that the industrial water consumption efficiency in China slightly fluctuated from 2011 to 2015, and there was no significant efficiency improvement. The efficiency of the IED stage was generally higher than that of the IWT stage, and the efficiency gap between stages was smaller in IED-dominated regions than in IWT-dominated regions. Urbanization has different effects on industrial water consumption efficiency, and the same factor can have significantly different effects in different regions. Some policy implications are proposed for the different types of regions.

Does Urbanization Promote Regional Industrial Environmental Efficiency? A Comparison of Economic Development-Oriented Regions and Environmental Governance-Oriented Regions

“…According to network DEA, on the one hand, for the EDoriented regions, we should maximize the efficiency of the ED stage first and then maximize the efficiency of the EG stage under the constraint that the efficiency of the ED stage does not decrease during this second step (Liu et al, 2019). In this case, the assessment model for the performance of the ED stage is described by Eq.…”

“…We select 16 typical provinces and divide these provinces into two groups: EG-oriented regions and ED-oriented regions, according to their development stage in 2011-2015 and in line with previous studies (Liu et al, 2019;Wang et al, 2015). The provinces selected are listed in Table 3.…”

“…Therefore, we should maximize outputs and minimize inputs and environmental pollution at the same time when quantifying EE. There are some standard methods for dealing with undesired outputs, including regarding the undesired outputs as inputs (Li et al, 2018), changing the undesired outputs into desired outputs by using their reciprocals (Liu et al, 2019), and adjusting the model to account for environmental production technology (Fernández et al, 2018).…”

Study on the Evolution of Water Resource Utilization Efficiency in Tibet Autonomous Region and Four Provinces in Tibetan Areas under Double Control Action

“…Zhang, et al selected six indicators to construct an evaluation index system of sustainable water management [12]. Woodward et al established a water efficiency evaluation framework in infrastructure investments and applied this to three federal campuses [13].In response to the driving factors of water utilization efficiency, scholars have given theoretical explanations and empirical tests from the perspectives of urbanization, environmental regulation, industrial agglomeration, and resource endowment [14,15]. Nazari recognized legal, social, technological, and political dynamics as the major reasons for failure of irrigation water management in Iran [16].…”

“…In response to the driving factors of water utilization efficiency, scholars have given theoretical explanations and empirical tests from the perspectives of urbanization, environmental regulation, industrial agglomeration, and resource endowment [14,15]. Nazari recognized legal, social, technological, and political dynamics as the major reasons for failure of irrigation water management in Iran [16].…”